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Uranium Dealers Detained

CHISINAU, Moldova — Moldovan police said they had detained seven suspected members of a group that traded firearms and uranium, operating in the separatist Transdnestr region.

“We have documented numerous cases involving shipments of hand grenades, TNT blocks, Kalashnikov assault rifles, rocket-propelled-grenade-launcher charges and containers with radioactive uranium-235,” top Moldovan investigator Vitalie Briceag told reporters Friday.

Briceag said the group sold Kalashnikovs for $2,000 and RPG charges for 200 euros, but he provided no details about the uranium deals or the origins of the nuclear fuel.

In May, a Moldovan court convicted three people of illegal trafficking of uranium-235, which can be used in making nuclear weapons. Intelligence services from the United States, Germany and Ukraine were involved in that case.

(Reuters)

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